User blog:Mlp Soarin/Poison In the Air
Okay, so, it's been a rough few weeks for the TwitterPonies, it seems. Characters are changing hands; players are getting frustrated and upset. People are leaving, sometimes with a snarl, sometimes with a heavy sigh. What's up with all that? Well, some of it is the springtime. Humans don't like to admit that they have instincts, but they do, and one of those instincts is to get all stroppy in springtime. It's real and it happens. But that's not all of it, by a long stretch. There is a lot of legitimate frustration about things that really are difficult. If you're playing a high-profile show character, you feel like you're drowning in a sea of OCs who all want to be noticed (and often have really strange ideas about what constitutes appropriate behavior for a MLPFIM-based RP). If you're playing an OC, you feel like you're all alone, trying to get a little attention and left to drift (or sink) in a world of distant players who will ignore you or completely block you at the drop of a hat. I've been there! I've been on both sides of that fence. It is genuinely rough. But it's not hopeless! I've found that works best for me is a concept so simple that it probably sounds fatuous, but I'm going to say it anyway: Shut up and RP. It really is just that simple. But I'll try to elaborate. Build Your Character's World If you're just starting out and don't have a lot of interactions especially, you're going to have to spend a lot of time putting on a solo show until people are interested. Soarin spent many lonely nights at the WonderBolts compound before there were other WB players around to interact with. So I used that time to build his character, had him doing shows, came up with the whole Volunteer Fly and Rescue thing, etc. Almost all of that was done during the "Wow, I wish somepony else would play with me!" stage, but it all paid off dividends later. It sounds weird, but you might find later on that you miss that relative peace and quiet! Soarin can't make a post now without a new player or two wanting in on the action. AppleJack has it even worse-- she can be sitting alone, in her room at Sweet Apple Acres in the middle of the night, and have a dozen players trying to interact with her. It can be mighty tempting to just have her say "What the HAY are you crazy ponies doing out here in the middle of the night? Get out!" and then sit and stew in a funk. But that would just add more negativity, and I don't do it. (At least, not usually.) Instead, I look for a way to build AJ's world with it, if I can. Ponies wanting to buy apples at midnight led me to set up regular hours for the cart; ponies wanting some place to play on the farm led me to create Bonecrusher Hill. And so forth. Sometimes, of course, there's just no way to deal with another player, either because they won't listen, or they want unreasonable things, or they just aren't doing things that make sense. That leads to my next topic... Prune Your Follow List Ruthlessly Play with players you like. Don't play with players you don't like. Seriously. You aren't obliged to follow every player, and it would be disastrous to try. It would be impossible to keep up with all of it-- and between you, me, and the internet, a lot of it is just plain inappropriate anyway. The simple fact is you have to be choosy about who you follow, who you'll talk to, and who'll you'll RP with, or it will scramble your brain. I realize this is a hard balance to achieve, especially when the subtitle of the show we're RPing from is Friendship is Magic. But it's a balance you have to find, and it's something you must become okay with. I recommend checking out the Five Geek Social Fallacies for more info on what's going on there and what to do about it. So if some player is doing something that annoys or even just doesn't interest you, don't play with that player. Period. You don't have to be nasty about it; you don't have to attack 'em or turn against their friends. All you have to do is not follow, and not play. If they start poking you with @-mentions, send them an OOC message along the lines of "(( I'm not really interested in doing that, but thanks. Have fun! ))" Nine times out of ten, this will solve your problem. Most people are not jerks. Of course, a few people are jerks, and will harass you 'til you block them, then make alternate accounts begging you to unblock their other account. This is one of the most obnoxious things a person can do on Twitter and as far as I'm concerned it gives you carte blanche to summarily block all of that player's alts forever. The main point here is this: play with players you like. Don't play with players you don't like. And don't feel bad about it. The First Rule of RP, is Don't Talk About RP Actually, it's more like the third or fourth rule, after "Have Fun" and "Follow the Guidelines." But it made a snappy section header. Anyway! DMs between players are fine and good, but sometimes are a really awkward way to communicate. And sometimes you want to hang out with your RP buddies but don't really feel like RP. For these things, we have the IRC, and it's a great tool for that. Unfortunately, it also has a dark side. Quite frankly, the IRC can be a negative, nasty place sometimes. People go there to vent when they're frustrated, or to get some love and attention when they've had a bad day. A few just plain go there to troll. Unfortunately, in a big ol' chat room, all of those things tend to snowball. Venting about troubles with another player or group of players becomes a Pile-On Party. Arguments that have nothing to do with Twitterponies at all cause bad blood between players. Trolls get their pathetic kicks by bringing people down and making everyone generally miserable. So, to be quite frank, I recommend that if you're stressed or feeling down, you don't go to the IRC, because if you hit it at one of these bad moments, it's just going to make you feel worse. Instead, find a BFF pony and chat one-on-one with them when something is bugging you. Leave the IRC for those times when you specifically want to get something done "backstage" as it were. Or if you do just hang out in IRC, watch for the tell-tale signs of an ugly riot starting and check out when that happens. You can always sign on later. Don't get caught up in it. Don't add fuel to the fire. Just walk away. Recognize Burnout Before It Happens, And Deal With It I've commented before on Pony Burnout; it happens to everyone and it sucks while you're going through it, but it's not the end of the world. The important thing is to pace yourself; take a lot of little breaks along the way, so that the things that bug you don't just build up and build up until you feel like you're scraping your fingernails on a chalkboard every time you sign on to Twitter. There will be times when you just don't want to have anything to do with the RP. I love TwitterPonies like crazy, but I've had more than a few days where I just couldn't bear to have anything to do with it. On those days, I just shut down Twitter and did something else. And I always felt better afterwards and came back ready to have fun. Finally: Relax People get wound up in this RP. Like crazy wound up. I know, I've done it myself. I have a huge emotional investment in Soarin and AppleJack. But you have to remember: We're a bunch of silly geeks pretending to be cartoon ponies on Twitter. Go say that out loud in front of a mirror three times. Maybe shout it at the mirror a few times. Think for a second about how ridiculous that is. Go ahead. I'll wait. ... ... ...done? Okay. Now don't you feel at least a little better? Doesn't all the noise and angst strike you as a bit extreme? C'mon, lighten up! Have fun and pony already! It's a game, let's just play. I'll see you in the feed. :) Category:Blog posts